Stars
by Aliemah
Summary: James and Shepard have a chance to relax after a long day by watching the stars in the lounge. Also posted on AO3 under the same title, and on tumblr.


_Author's Note: Originally posted on tumblr. Written for the prompt: nonsexual act of intimacy - accidentally falling asleep together. This was written for_ **Vorcha Girl** _and I hope she enjoys this as much as you do!_

* * *

After four hours, she was starting to go crazy. Four hours of reports was four hours too long. While she could have pawned this all off on Kaidan - he'd been there - she felt guilty. He'd nearly killed himself trying to protect her with his biotics. But what else was she supposed to do? Let Leviathan get away and let him have an easy day? Kaidan deserved to rest, so she was stuck with the reports for now. But a break sounded nice. She deserved it.

But she had to finish her reports.

"Screw it." she mumbled, pushing away from her desk and immediately heading to the elevator, intending on spending some time with her thoughts, and a bottle of wine. Her first stop was to go to the kitchen, and pick up a small snack, which ended up being a packet of crackers. She began humming a tune as she walked towards the lounge in the dim lighting, opening up the room and only slightly surprised to see James already sprawled out on the couch with a glass of something resting on his chest in his hand.

He'd also worked himself hard today. While she'd sat in the med bay, making sure she wasn't hemorrhaging or anything, James and Kaidan had given her a full account of what they'd experienced on the surface. While Kaidan fought form a distance, it seemed that James had gotten a little too close for his liking to some brutes, and husks. That explained why half of his face was bruised. And the bleeding nose. Thankfully, it wasn't broken, but he was going to have to be careful for a few days.

"Hey. How are you?" he sat up, making space for her at the other end of the couch.

"I'm sick of having to write reports. I've been at it for four hours." she sighed, going to the bar and looking around for her bottle of wine she kept stashed. After she found it, she went to search for a glass.

"Come down here for a break, then?"

* * *

"Yeah." she smiled and poured her drink, walking over to sit on the floor by his head. She felt him sink back down on the couch, and then his arms casually hung down beside hers, his fingers brushing against the bare skin on her bicep.

They were both quiet for a long time, sipping their drinks and staring out the window. When Analya didn't appear to notice James' subtle touches, he took to resting his hand on her shoulder. She casually lifted her hand to his, squeezing his hand and smiling. Once her glass was empty, she carefully set it down on the floor where it wouldn't get knocked over, and she glanced back at him.

"Need something?" he spoke quietly.

"I could really use a shoulder right now."

"I have two right here." he smiled, letting his hand fall as he sat up and she stood up. Though, she held on to his hand, and tucked herself beneath his arm as she curled up next to him.

"Thanks."

They were silent again, still looking out the window at all the stars. It was easy to get lost in them, and forget where they were, or what they were doing. Ana usually came here to clear her head after a long day like she'd had.

"You know, I was worried about you earlier." his voice sounded a little unsteady. Ever since she'd told him that she didn't mind his flirting, and that she didn't mind him, things had been different for the better. They got close, like they were now, and a few times they'd sneak off somewhere to be with each other for a few minutes, or an hour. They were happy, and hadn't really talked about what they'd wanted. Not yet, anyway. She'd told him they would once they got some shore leave on the Citadel again.

"James Vega was worried about me?" she grinned.

"Shut up, I was." he laughed, giving her a little nudge before the smile vanished. "We couldn't contact you and you were down there for a couple of hours. Cortez couldn't even get a signal from the mech."

"I'm sorry I had you so worried, James. But I had to do it."

"I know, just..." he turned and pressed his lips to her head. "Don't do it again."

"I'll try not to, but no promises." she curled up even more, and he decided he wanted to lay down again. So, he moved them both to the corner of the couch so he could still sit up, but stretch his legs out. The arms of the couch were much too short for it to be comfortable to lean against.

Ana knew James expected her to curl up on his side, but seeing as they were alone, and it was nearing midnight on the ship, she decided to get herself comfortable before she had to go back to the reports. So she crawled on top of him and laid her head on his chest, humming softly when he put his arms around her. This was by far her favorite thing - having a moment or two with him.

She closed her eyes after a few minutes when he gently pulled out the tie from her hair that held it in a bun. It fell in her face and she giggled, soon sighing gently as his hand began combing through it slowly. Happily, she relaxed against him, losing track of time. His hand eventually dropped to rest on her hip, the heat from it burning through her uniform and into her skin. Shivering from the sudden realization of how cold it was in the room, she looked around for the single blanket that was in the room. People often took naps in here, on their breaks, and so a blanket had somehow managed to find its way in.

Silently, she pulled away when she spotted it on the back of a chair by the bar. Draping it over her shoulders as she walked back, she crawled back into his lap, curling up with her back to the couch, wedging herself between it and James comfortably. When she was settled, she threw the blanket over both of them and rested her cheek on his shoulder. His arm slowly snaked up to wrap around her waist, holding her firmly in place.

"EDI, can you turn off the lights, please?" Ana spoke gently. They still had a breathtaking view of the stars and she wanted to admire it properly. Seconds later the lights dimmed, and shut off except for the emergency lights. "Thank you."

"Wow." James commented after a minute or so.

"Can't get a much better view than this." she hummed. The reports were in the back of her mind, and now all she could think about was sleep. Mostly, how much she wanted to take James up to the cabin and curl up in the bed with him. They could look at the stars for a little longer. Then, it became they could lay here for a little longer. She would just close her eyes for a few minutes.

* * *

Steve walked towards the lounge the next morning, as per his usual routine, to get some quiet time in before going to work. Usually, there wasn't anyone in the lounge. So when he walked in and saw someone on the couch, it gave him pause.

Then he smiled and walked over to gently pull the fallen blanket back over the two. They'd done a good job of skirting around one another to avoid suspicion, but Steve knew his gut was right. And, unable to help himself, he pulled out his omni-tool to snap a photo, making sure to send it to both of them before deleting it off his own. After that, he figured he should make himself scarce, and headed down to the shuttle bay.

Ana woke up not much later, wondering why her back hurt as much as it did. Opening her eyes, she suddenly remembered everything that had happened the night before. Cursing quietly, she carefully sat up. One look at him, and she knew she couldn't just leave him. Placing a chaste kiss on his cheek, she hoped he might wake up. Of course he didn't. She laughed at herself and then gave him a gentle shake until he stirred.

"Morning." she hummed quietly.

"Hey." he grimaced and stretched his arms, taking a minute before he realized where they were. "Damn, I kept you from going back to the cabin, didn't I?"

"No, I think I might have fallen asleep before you." she smiled. "I wanted to stay with you." her hand cupped his jaw, and then she leaned in to kiss him lightly on the lips. "We should probably both get going, though. I have a busy day, and I think you could use a little more rest, after yesterday."

"Well come see me if you need another break."

"I will." she smiled and stood up, throwing the blanket back on top of him with a smirk as she sauntered out to the elevator.

Her omni-tool pinged gently as it came off its 'do not disturb' mode, and messages began flooding in. Hitting the button for the cabin, she began sorting through all the messages, walking in to the cabin eventually and sitting back down at her desk as one message caught her eye. What could Steve possibly need? Opening the message, she couldn't help but laugh.

' _I thought you two were together. Don't worry, I won't tell.'_

Analya giggled, and looked closer a the photo. It was nice. She was curled up in the corner, resting a top James. His arms were lazily draped around her hips and waistline, over the blanket. And he'd tucked her head under his chin, as if trying to keep her safe while he half laid on the couch beside and beneath her. The one thing she couldn't stop giggling about was how absolutely _normal_ this photo seemed. They could have been asleep in their apartment, or house.

' _Did Cortez send you the picture too?'_ James sent her.

' _Yeah. I think it's cute.'_ she sent back, going to save the photo to her omni-tool, planning on downloading it to her photo frame at some point, later. It would be a nice start to the collection of photos they would no doubt have.


End file.
